


Out of Sight, Out of Mind

by Linorien



Series: Twin Tales [13]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Camelot Remix Eligable, Gen, Leon wisely chose to be out of town this week, Pre-Canon, all three of them, no beta we die like knights, troublemakers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28055886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linorien/pseuds/Linorien
Summary: Monsters of the week were a lot different before Merlin came around. And the knights were a lot more willing to pretend the problem was solved. That didn't mean that there wasn't still consequences.One shot in the Twin Tales universe.
Series: Twin Tales [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1228421
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Sir Bedivere had returned from a quest to Kent and had brought with him a strange rock which he intended to study. It was ovular and dark, with a bit of a shine to it. There were flecks of other pastel colours too, but those were hard to see unless you held the torch light just right. 

“It looks like poop,” Bors said. 

Tristan shoved his fellow squire and best friend. “Why are you like this?”

“It does though!” he laughed. “You can’t tell me I’m wrong.”

“I can tell you to shut up before we get found out for sneaking into the throne room.”

They’d snuck in via the servant’s entrance and they probably had only another fifteen minutes before actual servants came in to light the candles for the day’s events. But Bors had really wanted to see this new treasure up close and it wouldn’t be possible when other people were in here. 

Certainly not anyone who would yell at the boys for standing on the king’s throne in order to get a better look at the strange rock on the pedestal next to the throne.

“What’s it feel like?” Tristan asked. He was the one holding the torch and gripping the back of the throne for balance so his hands were occupied. 

Bors reached out and gently gave it a poke. It felt hard. Like a rock. Emboldened, he laid his palm on the stone. “It’s cold, very smooth. Like really smooth.” He dragged his hand across it. Back and forth. 

“Like a river stone?”

He shook his head. “More smooth. Like. Um. Like Mother’s special Christmas tablecloth.”

“Let me feel it.” They traded off the torch so Tristan could reach out and feel the weird stone. “I thought you said it was cold?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s warm.”

Bors frowned. That didn’t make sense. “Must just feel warm cause you were holding the torch.”

Tristan rolled his eyes as he grabbed the torch back. “That would make it feel more cold, idiot. Feel it again.”

He reached out and yeah, wow. “It’s warmer than it was.” They exchanged worried looks. “Did we do something to it?”

“It’s just a rock. What could we do to it?” There was a cracking noise and they flinched. “It  _ is _ just a rock, right?”

In unison, they slowly turned to look at the rock. It had a large crack running down the length and it seemed to be growing. Then a long black talon burst upward, sending shards of the rock, no, egg, flying. They watched, spellbound as a creature emerged. 

It looked like an all black fox. Or it almost did. There were no all black foxes, for a start, but foxes did not have claws like a hawk. Nor did foxes have glowing blue geometric symbols on its muzzle. 

And foxes certainly didn’t have long peacock-like feathers crowning it’s head. 

Tristan pulled Bors down from the throne and slowly they backed away. “Bors, I don’t think that was a rock.”

“And I don’t think this is going to stay a secret.”

The creature opened its eyes, sapphire orbs that looked like a fire was burning behind them. Those eyes looked around the room and settled on Tristan. Then its wings - it had wings! - flared out to the side, big black wings that they had no idea how they fit inside the egg. 

Then it shrieked.

Bors slammed his hands over his ears to try to block out the noise but it was horrendous. He closed his eyes as if that would help. He felt Tristan yank on his arm and then they were running, just slipping through the door when they heard the big doors of the throne room bang open and guards come rushing in. 

Tristan kept pulling him along which was good because Bors could barely think. Stone was egg. Egg hatched. Monster. Tristan pulled them into a window seat and they sat, catching their breath. Distantly they could still hear the beast screaming. Unless that was just an echo in Bors’s head. 

“We should tell someone,” Tristan said finally. 

“I think they know,” Bors replied. 

“They don’t know we hatched it.”

“They don’t need to know. And maybe it was nothing we did, maybe it would’ve done that on its own.”

“It only got warm after we touched it. Maybe it was sleeping or something.”

Suddenly another voice joined in. “So it was your fault.” Prince Arthur stood in the corridor, his arms crossed just like Uther did when he was angry. 

“We didn’t bring it into Camelot,” Tristan shot back. 

“You just said you touched it,” Prince Arthur snapped back.

Tristan rolled his eyes. “Everyone thought it was a rock. Nothing happens when you touch a rock. How were we suppose to know it wasn’t a rock?”

Perhaps the prince had an answer, perhaps not. They were interrupted by the shrieking suddenly getting louder as the beast came barrelling down the corridor, trying to fly or run and running into the walls. 

“Run!” Tristan grabbed Bors’s wrist in one hand, the prince’s in the other and yanked them down the corridor. 

Bors didn’t know where Tristan was planning on fleeing, but as long as someone else made the decisions he was more than happy to follow. Especially if that choice meant getting away from the terrifying demon. 

“No this way,” Arthur shouted, yanking them around a corner. “To the armory!”

Being squires, none of them were permitted to carry swords in the castle, but they could handle themselves with the blade. Although perhaps a spear would be more useful. 

Bors grabbed a sword, a spear, and a shield just in case. The others did the same. Then they ran outside. There were already knights out there, watching all directions. Sir Edmund saw them and tried to tell them to get back inside. 

Except the beast then burst through a second floor window and came plummeting down toward the knights, screaming as it fell. The knights formed ranks, shoving the three squires out of the way, and raising their weapons. 

The beast fell against their shields but seemed only mildly annoyed by the spears. It hit the ground and quickly righted itself on its four clawed feet. Then with a snarl, it launched itself into the air. 

They watched warily, but it flew higher and higher, and further south. Seemingly just as desperate to leave Camelot as they were to have it gone. 

Unfortunately, with the immediate threat gone, Sir Edmund turned to them. “What are the three of you doing?”

Not able to produce a good enough answer, they were all made to suffer extra laps around the castle at practice for the next week and then they had to polish the entire army’s boots. They all blamed each other but none of them managed to learn a single lesson. A month later and Bors was convincing Tristan to help him paint swear words on the cows.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh the creature kinda looks [like this](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hiclipart.com/free-transparent-background-png-clipart-xloyr&sa=D&ust=1607884057456000&usg=AOvVaw2kJD86skgZnHfNvnDSjzm3) but with wings.


End file.
